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The Economist Intelligence Unit has one of the largest and most experienced country and industry analysis teams in the world. Our 100 full-time country experts and economists, based in offices around the world, have a thorough grounding in economics, politics, risk and industry. Most have lived and worked in the region they cover; many are fluent in local languages; and three out of four have advanced degrees. To ensure that this expertise remains fresh and up to date, each country analyst focuses on two or three countries, and visits them regularly.

Our experts are supported by a huge network of contributors based in virtually every country of the world. Currently numbering 650, our contributors report on recent economic and political events, comment on the
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Latest Press Releases

France leads new food index, followed by Japan, with good performance for nutrition, food waste and agricultural sustainability. India and Ethiopia face severe nutritional challenges,…

Governments prioritise local challenges over global goals, says new report

Improving the environment ranks as a top-three social or economic goal for policy makers in only three high-income countries

Better education is a top-three priority in only lower-income countries

Collaboration between government and other groups ranks highest as a lever to meet social or economic goals

A report published today (September 19th) by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) based on a survey of 360 policy makers in eight countries show that local concerns such as improving employment, education or health are higher priorities for governments than cross-border challenges as curbing climate change or income inequality. Though this local focus is understandable, it threatens to undo and reverse progress in areas that require cross-border collaboration such as environmental sustainability and sewing peace in unstable regions, the report states.

Evolving development goals in an evolving world, sponsored by Microsoft, assesses how governments rank their needs and aspirations today, the levers they value to meet these goals, and how their priorities are likely to shift in the future.

In recent years, cross-border goals such as boosting environmental protection and addressing income inequality rose in prominence among policymakers, as a foundation for a more peaceful and prosperous future. But these goals seem to have slipped in select countries across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, behind more immediate concerns such improving economic opportunity, innovation, healthcare and education.

In a survey for the report, policymakers in all countries rank expanding economic opportunity, improving infrastructure or increasing industrial innovation as a top three development goal. But protecting the environment and natural resources ranks only fifth, globally and efforts to reduce inequality rank eighth (last) globally. (Please see the chart below.)

Carolyn Whelan, the report’s editor, said: “The relatively low emphasis on tackling inequality is surprising, given talk of inequality stoking Britain’s EU exit and an overheated US presidential campaign. However, the broad agreement among policy makers that collaboration between sectors will be critical to meet this and other pressing social and economic goals offers hope.”

Despite a retreat from trans-border issues, collaboration is a bright spot, with nearly 90% of respondents describing collaboration and partnerships as either “very” or “somewhat important” to meet their country’s top development goals.

About the surveyThe report is based on a February 2016 survey of 360 policymakers evenly dispersed across Canada, Denmark, India, Kenya, Poland, Singapore, the UK and the US on eight social and economic priorities. These goals loosely align with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Respondents represent a variety of functions and serve in mid- to senior-level positions, with 73% civil servants. They are employed by government agencies or organisations that focus on areas ranging from trade and transportation to agriculture and education, with the largest group (42%) working for federal or national, 33% local (including county and municipal) and 24% for state or provincial bodies.

About The Economist Intelligence UnitThe Economist Intelligence Unit is the business-to-business arm of The Economist Group, which publishes The Economist newspaper. The Economist Intelligence Unit helps executives make better decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies. More information can be found at http://www.eiu.com/ or http://www.twitter.com/theeiu.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is one of the world's leading platform and productivity companies for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.